Toroidal coil winder



April 14, 1970 D. E. STOPPEL TOROIDAL COIL WINDER Filed April 15, 1968 3Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

, OPPEL DOYLE E, BY W 11 TTOKIVEYS April 14, 1970 D. E. STOPPEL.3,506,207

TOROIDAL COIL WINDER Filed April 15, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 twig 56",

INVENTOR. DOYLE E. STOPPEL WW M/aM D. E. STCJFPEL TOROIDAL COIL WINDERApril 14, 1970 Filed April 15. 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR DOYLE E.STOPPEL z flIVWHNEYS United States Patent Oflice 3,506,207 Patented Apr.14, 1970 3,506,207 TOROIDAL COIL WINDER Doyle E. Stoppel, Danbury,Conn., assignor to Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R.I., a corporation ofMassachusetts Filed Apr. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 721,449 Int. Cl. B65h 81/02;H01f 41/08 s. Cl. 242-4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toroidalcore winding machine uses three pulleys over which wire loops are woundto form a bundle of wires with a leg of the bundle passing through theopen center of the toroidal core. As the pulleys are driven to wind wirefrom the bundle to the core, the slack or available free wire is used uprequiring another loop of wire to be freed from the bundle over the endof a pulley. Each time tension in the exahusting loop reaches apredetermined value, it pulls the core and its support upward, actuatinga bundle shifting means below the core to displace the bundle toward oneedge of the core opening, after which a pick-off finger above the coremoves between the taut wire being wound on the core and the wire bundle.The pick-off finger is then shifted toward a pulley to orderly pull thesucceeding loop over the end of the pulley. This loop of wire is thenwound on the core until it is exhausted and another loop is withdrawnfrom the wire bundle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a toroidal coilwinder and, more particulraly, to an improved automatic apparatus forwinding coils without the use of a shuttle, to a minimum residualaperture.

Conventional toroidal coil winders are of generally two types. One typecomprises a split winding ring known as a shuttle which is mounted torotate through an annular core. The shuttle is loaded with a supply ofwire which in the winding process is transferred to the core as theshuttle is rotated therethrough. Clearly, the minimum aperture of thecompletely wound core is limited by the cross-sectional area of theshuttle.

The second type of toroidal coil winder eliminates the use of a shuttle,enabling Winding of small cores having minute residual apertures. Coilwinders of this type are generally based upon the teaching of US. PatentNo. 751,816 entitled Process of Winding issued Feb. 9, 1904 to A. IStrong. In accordance with this method, a core is held in a suitableholder and the wire to be wound thereon is formed in a series of largeloops about two spaced pulleys, one leg of each loop passing through thecore aperture. The trailing end of the wire is secured to the core andthe loop containing that end is released from the pulleys to provideslack which is taken up by being tightly wound upon the core. As eachsuccessive loop is stripped from the series of loops and a portionthereof is tightened upon the core, the desired number of turns will beformed on the core. It is known to those skilled in this art that a coilmay be formed having a minimum residual aperture as small as twice thediameter of the wire itself.

Several problems have been encountered in coil windings of this type,foremost among them being the difiiculty of picking-off the proper loopin a proper location. This is a problem because often the series ofloops become intermeshed, overlapped, or twisted. In the event that theloop is in an incorrect location when released from the pulleys, isslackened and is subsequently tightened, entanglement of the entireseries of loops and wire breakage occurs, unless corrected manually.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is the primary object of thisinvention to provide a toroidal coil winder of the second type whichwill pick-off the proper wire loop.

Another object of this invention is to provide a toroidal coil winder asset forth in the above paragraph having positively acting mechanicalpick-off means.

A fulther object of this invention is to provide a toroidal coil winderhaving a fully automatic winding cycle with a safety shut-oft to preventwire breakage.

To accomplish these objects, in one form I have provided a toroidal coilwinder for winding wire upon a core including core mounting means, andsupport means disposed in a common plane for carrying a series of wireloops so that the bundle of wire strands in one leg of the loops passesthrough the central core aperture. There is also provided means fordriving the support means to rotate the loops through the core. A bundledisplacing device is positioned below the core and a pick-off device islocated above the core. The pick-off device is movable in one plane toenter between the bundle of free wire strands and the leg of theoutermost loop and movable in another plane to strip the outermost loopfrom the support means. Control means is included to actuate the drivingmeans, the bundle displacing device and the pickoff device in apredetermined sequence.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and further details ofthat which I believe to be novel and my invention will be clear from thefollowing description and claims taken with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the toroidal coil winderconstructed in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial perspective View of the loop pick-0E meansshown in its normal inactivated position;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial perspective view similar to that of FIG. 4showing two positions of the loop pickoff means in operation; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are successive schematic side elevational views showingthe manner in which the winder operates to take up slack in the releasedloop to wind a turn on the core.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to the drawingsthere is illustrated in FIGS. 13 the toroidal core winder of myinvention. The apparatus includes a support housing 10 enclosing a drivemotor 12. An upright standard 14 is firmly secured to the housing andextends substantially perpendicular thereto. Vertically spaced, alignedpulleys 16 and 18 are journalled for rotation in the upright standard 14upon substantially parallel axes. A lateral beam 20 is secured to andextends outwardly from the upright standard carrying at its end apivotally mounted arm 22 rotatable about a pivot pin 24. The arm 22supports a journalled tension pulley 26 at its lower end and is biasedaway from the pulleys 16 and 18 by means of a spring finger 28, one endof which is secured to the arm, the other end being mounted in a fixedblock 30. The pulleys 16, 18 and 26 each have a circumferential groove34 and constitute a planar movable support for a series of wire loops32.

In operation, the two pulleys 16 and 18 are rotated in the samedirection (clockwise, as shown in FIGS. 6-7) by a suitable frictiondrive comprising a motor drive belt 36 which passes over a motor sheave38 and a drive sheave 4G coaxial with lower pulley 16, and a pulleyconnecting belt 42 which passes over pulley sheaves 44 and 46. In orderto assist in maintaining the wire loops 32 in their proper relativepositions upon the pulleys, I have provided a tension belt 48 whichbears against the wires in groove 34 of the upper pulley 18. The tensionbelt is mounted upon idler pulleys G and 52 journalled in a supportplate 54.

Adjacent the faces of pulleys 16, 18 and 26, which lie in a commonvertical plane, there is positioned a pulley shield 56 comprising asheet of polished metal secured to the upright standard 14 by means ofsuitable screws 58. The pulley shield includes a bevelled lip 59 on itsperiphery to direct a stripped wire loop to the wire slack controlsystem, as will become apparent hereinafter. To control wire slack, thepulley shield cooperates with a cover plate ubassembly 60 including acover plate 62 having a felt pad 64 or other suitable friction meansupon its surface. The cover plate subsassernbly further includes amounting block 66 secured to the support housing in which a pivotalstandard 68 is mounted, and a rotatable support bracket 70 secured tothe upper end of the pivotal standard 68. In order to enable the feltpad 64 to be maintained in intimate contact with the pulley shield 56,the cover plate 62 is hingedly mounted to the support bracket 70 at 72.To maintain the proper contact pressure the slack control system, a leafspring 74 is secured to the pivotal standard -58 (note FIG. 3).

A core C to be wound with wire by the apparatus is carried by a coresupport subassembly 76. Subassembly 76 comprises a base 78 mounted uponthe support housing 10 by securing screws 80 and adjustable relative tothe fixed winding mechanism by suitable adjusting means 82 and 84. Arotatable mounting plate 86 seated upon the base 78 upon a pivot pin 88may be selectively located in a desired angular position by tighteningclamp 90. Mounting block 92 is positioned upon the plate 86 for rotationtherewith and supports an upstanding rod 94 and a switch mounting plate96.

A suitable core holder 98 which may be constructed with spring biasedjaws 100 as shown in FIG. 1, or may be of any other suitable form, ispositioned atop a gravity loaded mounting sleeve 102 which is mountedfor free vertical reciprocation upon the rod '94. A slot 104 in thesleeve passes a pin 106 projecting radially outwardly from the rod 94 toprevent rotation of the sleeve on the rod. Switch operating cam 108projects outwardly from the sleeve to actuate a start-cycle limit switch110 having a trip finger 112 in a lower position and a safety limitswitch 114 in an upper position. The limit switches 110 and 14 aremounted on the switch mounting plate 96. When the core C is held by thejaws 100, its axis is in substantial alignment with the axis of pivotpin 88.

A deflection hook Subassembly 116 secured to the upright standard 14adjacent the core holder 98 includes a bracket 118 supporting solenoid120 having a plunger 122, and a hook 124 secured to the plunger to bereciprocated thereby. Biasing means (not shown) urges the hook and theplunger away from the solenoid.

A pick-off finger actuating Subassembly 126 mounted above the coresupport Subassembly 76 includes a double acting air cylinder 128 securedto the upright standard 14 by means of a suitable bracket 130. As viewedin FIG. 2, the cylinder is slightly angularly mounted relative to thevertical axis of the apparatus. The cylinder 128 includes a piston rod132 which terminates in the .connector plate 134 which is secured to thefinger holder 136. Extending parallel to the piston rod is a rotatableshaft 138 to which a parallel rectangular guide rod 140 is secured bymeans of brackets 142 and 144, In this manner, the guide rod will rotatewith and about the shaft 138 which passes freely through openings in themounting lates 130 and 131 and finger holder 136. Mounting plate 131 isfastened to upright standard 14. A rectangular slot 146 in the fingerholder complementary with the guide rod 140 receives the guide rod sothat the finger holder will rotate with the shaft 138. An L-shapedspring metal pickofi finger 148 with a pointed tip is mounted in thefinger holder 136. To rotate the shaft 138 for moving the pick-offfinger have provided a solenoid 150 mounted atop the upright standard14, the plunger 152 of which is Secured to a link 154 connected to alever arm 156 mounted upon the rotatable shaft 138. Biasing means (notshown) urges the plunger 152 away from the solenoid 150. Adjacent theupper end of guide rod 140 there is secured an end-ofstroke limit switch158 having a trip finger 160 which may be actuated by the connectorplate 134.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described with particularreference to the schematic representations of FIGS. 4=7. Initially thecore C is mounted between the jaws of the core holder 98 and the leadingend of the wire is passed around the pulleys 16, 18 and 26, through thecore C and is secured to the adjacent leg of the next loop for example,by being glued thereto. This forms the carrier loop of the system. Byrotating the pulleys, either manually or with the motor, any desirednumber of loops may be wound thereupon. A constant tension is maintainedon the strands by means of the spring biased tension pulley 26. When thedesired amount of wire has been wound upon the pulleys the trailing endof the wire is attached to'the core.

After the apparatus is set up for operation, the motor 12 is energized.Since the trailing end of the wire is attached to the core, rotation ofthe pulleys in a clockwise direction pulls the trailing strand taut tolift the gravity loaded core holder 98 and mounting sleeve 102. Liftingof the mounting sleeve raises the cam 108 oif of the trip finger 112 toactuate the start-cycle limit switch which initially stops the drivemotor 12. It should be noted that the core has been positioned relativeto the bundle of wire strands passing therethrough so that each turn ofwire wound thereon will be located upon the forward portion thereof(i.e., right side as viewed in FIG. 2). Next, the solenoid is energized,drawing in the plunger 1.22 and the hook 124. As the hook is locatedbelow the core (note FIGS. 4 and 5) it pulls the bundle of free legs ofthe wire loops 32 to a remote location in the core aperture relative tothe taut wound trailing strand 32 (note FIG. 5). As a result, the tautwire strand which extends above the core is separated a maximum distancefrom the bundle of free legs which pass through the core.

Immediately following the separation of the wire strands, the solenoidis energized, pulling in the plunger 152 to rotate the lever arm 156 andthe shaft 138 and guide rod 140, thereby rotating the finger holder 136and directing the pick-01f finger 148 between the separated strands 32and 32', as clearly shown in FIG. 5. Then, the double-acting aircylinder 128 is energized, drawing in the piston rod 132 to raise thepick-off finger. As the pick-off finger rises upon the angularlydisposed shaft 138 the side of its short leg pushes the taut wire strand32' off of the upper pulley 18 (note dot-dash lines in FIG. 5). Tensionbelt 48 serves to maintain tension on the strand 32' until the windingaction of said strand as shown in FIG. 6 pulls the strand 32' off pulley18 and from beneath the belt 48.

At the top of the piston stroke, the connecting plate 134 actuates theend-of-stroke limit switch 158 which again energizes the drive motor 12,rotating the pulleys 16, 18 and 26 and causing the displaced wire strand32 to slide upon the bevelled lip 59 and to fall between the pulleyshield 56 and the felt pad 64. Actuation of the end-ofstroke limitswitch also energizes the double-acting air cylinder 128 to extend thepiston rod 132 and to de energize solenoids 120 and 150. As soon as thetaut wire goes slack, the core holder 98 and gravity loaded mountingsleeve 102 will drop and the cam 108 will again be seated upon the tripfinger 112.

Continued rotation of the pulleys 16, 18 and 26 pulls the slack loop 32'further and further downwardly as shown by the arrows in FIGS. 6 and 7until it slips off the lower pulley 16 and is then drawn upwardly, stillbetween the pulley shield 56 and the felt pad 64, ever closer to thecore C. When the slack is completely exhausted, there will be onewinding turn on the core. Thereafter, as the motor continues to rotatethe pulleys, the end strand again lifts the core holder 98 and gravityloaded mounting sleeve 102 off of the start-cycle limit switch 110 torestart the cycle. Should the pick-off finger fail to push the singlestrand off of the upper pulley 18, and continued operation of thepulleys raises the mounting sleeve 102 too high, the cam 108 trips asafety limit switch 114 to stop operation of the apparatus. In thismanner, wire breakage is effectively prevented.

I have just described the sequence of operations, of my novel toroidalcoil winder, for winding a single turn upon the core C. It should beunderstood that this sequence is automatically repeated until thedesired number of turns have been transferred from the series of loopsto the core. During the winding operation, the core may be rotatedmanually or a suitable motor drive (not shown) may be used to change anangular position of the mounting plate 86. As the mounting plate 86rotates upon a center (pivot pin 88) coaxial with the core, the wireturns are always placed upon the core in the same place relative to thedeflection hook 124 and pick-off finger 148.

It is believed that the many advantages of this invention will now beapparent to those skilled in this art. As set forth in the objectsabove, I have provided a fully automatic toroidal coil winder having animproved, posi tively acting mechanical pick-off means which insuresthat the properly located wire loop will be removed from the loopsupporting pulleys. The apparatus provided in my invention is simple indesign and highly reliable in operation.

It should be understood that the present disclosure has been made by wayof example and that numerous changes in details of construction and thecombination and arrangements of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the true spirit and the scope of the invention ashereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A toroidal coil winder for winding wire upon a core, comprising: abase; core mounting means disposed upon said base; support means carriedby said base for carrying a series of wire loops, said support meansbeing located so that the bundle of wire strands in one leg of the loopspasses through the central aperture of the core; means for driving saidsupport means to rotate said series of loops through the core; bundledisplacing means located on one side of the core; pick-off means locatedon the other sideof the core, movable in one plane to enter between theleg of the outermost loop and the remainder of the bundle and movable inanother plane to strip the outermost loop from said support means; andcontrol means for actuating said driving means, said bundle displacingmeans and said pick-off means in a predetermined sequence.

2. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 1 wherein said supportmeans includes at least two pulleys disposed in a vertical plane, one ofsaid pulleys being movable in the vertical plane and biased away fromsaid other pulley to apply tension to the series of wire loops.

3. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 2 wherein a belt ispositioned adjacent the rim of said other pulley to maintain said wireloops in their proper location.

4. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 1 wherein: said coremounting means includes an angularly adjustable mounting plate, avertically reciprocable gravity loaded mounting sleeve disposed uponsaid mounting plate, and a core holder having movable clamping jaws; andcamming means are positioned upon said mounting sleeve to actuate aninitiating means for starting a separation and pick-off cycle.

5. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 4 wherein: said coremounting means is positioned relative to said support means so that eachturn of wire wound upon the core is placed at a first location on thecore at every angular position of core rotation; and said bundledisplacing means includes a reciprocable hook positioned to move thebundle to a second location in the core aperture remote from the firstlocation.

6. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 5 wherein said pick-offmeans includes a finger and finger mounting means; and dual actuatingmeans are provided to move said pick-01f means in the two planesincluding, a rotatable shaft carrying said finger mounting means,linkage means to oscillate said finger mounting means about said shaftin the one plane, and a double-acting means to move said finger mountingmeans in translation upon said rotatable shaft.

7. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 1 wherein: said coremounting means is positioned relative to said support means so that eachturn of wire wound upon the core is placed at a first location on thecore; and said bundle displacing means includes a reciprocable hooklocated below the core for moving the bundle to a second location in thecore aperture remote from the first location.

8. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 1 wherein: said pick-offmeans includes a finger and finger mounting means located above thecore; and dual actuating means are provided to move said pick-off meansin the two planes including, a rotatable shaft carrying said fingermounting means, linkage means to oscillate said finger mounting meansabout said shaft in the one plane, and means to move said fingermounting means in the other plane in translation upon said rotatableshaft.

9. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 8 wherein said means formoving said finger mounting means in translation includes adouble-acting means.

10. The toroidal coil winder defined in claim 9 wherein said supportmeans includes at least two pulleys disposed in a vertical plane andsaid cylinder and rotatable shaft are slightly angularly disposedrelative to the vertical axis of the winder with the lower end of saidcylinder and rotatable shaft being farther from the vertical plane ofsaid pulleys than their upper ends, whereby when said finger moves inthe other plane it urges the outermost loop oil of one of said pulleys.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,978,193 4/1961 Kelly 242-4 XR3,050,266 8/1962 Bucalo 2424 3,451,631 6/ 1969 Tillman 2424 BILLY S.TAYLOR, Primary Examiner

